The smell of the freshly cut green grass. The sounds of the ball popping the mitt and flying off the bats. The sunshine, the cheering, and the competitiveness. The Yankees are back. And so are the Mets, and Phillies, and Jaguars and Bearcats and Mustangs. Of course, I'm speaking of Little League. And yours truly has decided to give back to the organization that gave him so much. No, not as a coach, but as a, what else, an umpire. After responding to an ad in the paper, I am now the newest umpire to roam the fields of New York City. My first official game was a Tee-ball match up the 2nd week of April. There was actually no tee, but coaches pitched and the kids were of T-Ball age. All I had to do was keep track of swings and rule safe or out on the bases. The only thing that made it difficult was the fact that it was raining and about 45 degrees out. But we got thru the game and fortunately for me, I didn't even have to put on the gear. I was just happy to get out of the rain.
But this past weekend was my real debut. I was to work a Pony League doubleheader in the North Meadow of the great Central Park. I would be behind the plate for the first game, the base umpire for the second. I believe the ages of the kids was 14 and 15, and maybe even 16, although I'm not sure. They played on a regulation field, which I'll tell you off the bat was a little too big for some of the kids. But being that this was the oldest age group the Yorkville Youth Athletic Association offered, I was curious as to just how hard the pitchers would throw. I remember when I was 15, there were guys who threw real hard. So, being that it had been about 14 years since I put on a cup, and about 20 years since I put on gear to be behind the plate, I was both excited and apprehensive.
But I strapped it on and arrived at the fields in the middle of the upper west and east sides of Manhattan prepared to take my licks. The day was a perfect one for baseball: a clear blue sky, bright sunshine, and the temperature was a brisk 60 degrees, but warming up to about 70 by the time the second game started at 11:15 AM. After a brief meeting with the coaches at home plate, it was time for the boys to take the field. I won't go into too much detail about the game because this email is already getting too long, but I'll just touch on a few highlights.
First of all, I was totally expecting the be like Lieutenant Frank Drebin, aka Enrico Palazzo, aka Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun when he was the umpire in the Angels/Mariners game played at Dodgers Stadium (a beef I have with the movie actually, but we'll save that for another time). I figured that I'd just have that blank stare on the first pitch because I was either pissing my pants from fear or I just couldn't see the pitch. But, luckily for me, the pitcher didn't throw that hard and I actually felt quite comfortable squatting behind the catcher with all my gear on. It took me about 3 pitches to realize that I have the same problem as an umpire as I did as a player: I can't pick up the outside part of the plate. I chuckled to myself because I literally thought about it at the time. But for the most part, I was wishing I had a bat in my hand because there were so many pitches that I would have loved to take a hack at.
The catcher for one of the teams couldn't catch anything which concerned me, but he was thankfully able to protect me from getting hit. I was also lucky enough not to take any foul balls off my elbows or any other part of my body. I got to ring a few guys up on called strikes which was really cool. I lost track of the count once and had to ask my base umpire (that was embarrassing) for the correct one. I called a runner safe on a close play at the plate (I thought he slid under the tag, cause the tag was high...we'll just assume I was right). I even received a "Oh c'mon Blue" from one of the parents which made feel all warm and fuzzy inside. One of the coaches questioned a ball I called by asking "Where was that one?" I answered with a confident, "Inside." His response reminded me again of The Naked Gun..."Inside!!??" Never mind that the pitch almost hit the batter. I will say that, looking back, I think I could open up my strike zone a little bit. But I think it's because I still think like a hitter, and not wanting to cheat the batter, I don't want to give the pitcher anything close. But I'll have to work on it, cause this is Little League after all.
There were 2 plays that are worth mentioning. I'll just give you the situations.
1 out, runners on 1st and 3rd, 3 balls on the batter. On the pitch, the runner on 1st takes off for 2nd. The pitch is high and I say, "Ball 4." In hindsight, I should have said that louder, because the catcher threw down to 2nd trying to get the guy stealing. Because he sucked, he threw the ball into centerfield, and the runner from 3rd scored. No problem, right? Wrong. My base umpire calls timeout and motions for me to come over to him in the middle of the field. His take was that since it was ball 4, the runner on first gets a free pass to second and therefore the play is dead and the run should not score. I disagreed immediately, saying if the catcher throws the ball away, the other runners are free to advance, and that a walk does not create a dead ball situation. He disagreed and he called the coaches over, neither if which had a problem with my ruling and we continued the game. I asked my boss, who showed up a little later into the game, and he agreed with the base umpire. I still say I'm correct, so if anyone wants to validate my ruling, feel free.
2nd play...runner on 1st, 1 out, and 1 strike on the batter. Again, the runner on first takes off, and the batter swings and foul tips the pitch, which is caught by the catcher. The runner steals easily without a throw and all I do is give the swinging strike signal. No problem. right? Wrong. The base umpire calls time out and says because it was a foul tip, the runner has to go back to 1st. I said that because the catcher caught the ball, it's just a regular swinging strike and play is not dead. He disagreed and because I was only 95% sure bout this one, I gave him his ruling. Again, the coaches didn't really argue, but I looked it up in the rule book the other day and sure enough, I was correct again. The Pony League uses MLB rules for the most part and in the book it clearly states that I was correct. You can look it up if you want to.
The game ended after 5 innings because one team was up by more than 12 runs. So my first game behind the dish was in the books, and all in all, I had a great time. I felt like I was playing again and it was great to be out there. I hope I'm still saying that when I get hit by my first foul tip. Now I could relax and work the bases in game 2.
Nothing major to report on the bases...had a close play at 3rd in which I called the guy out....almost got hit by a line drive missile up the middle in which I just got out of the way of... and had a bunch of routine calls at first. The funniest part of the game was when the pitcher, in the windup set, realized he needed to be in the stretch because there were runners on base, asked for time. I said to him, "Just step off with your right foot." (He was right handed). He replied, "I don't know how." I felt bad for him at this point so I called time, but I told him that in the future, all he had to do was step off with his right foot. That's right, my first game, and I was already molding young ball players into better ones. I think I'll take up coaching next summer.
This coming Sunday I work the 8,9, and 10 year olds. I hope the catcher can catch.
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